The Chronicles of Melissa McCrae

Sydney Moya

All rights reserved

(c)2015

This story is set just after the events in the Pirelli mansion in The Curse of the McCrae's

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1. Aftermath

The auburn haired woman stared out of the window of the bedroom of her youth wondering about the future. More than once she'd thought of jumping out of the window and ending it but the terrific things she'd witnessed and been a part a part off lately held her back. She wasn't one to break promises especially to loved ones.

She sighed, she had taken the news that she could never be turned into Matt again badly. Living as a woman had been made bearable by the hope however slim that if the curse was broken she could be turned back into a man.

However having broken the curse in a fantastic fight with a demon that devoured people she could not now go back to being a man if it was to remain broken. If she did go back she would die and a terrible curse would continue to stalk the descendants of James McCrae, a 17th century banker.

At one point Melissa had considered transitioning medically. Before she could look into it thoroughly though the news that she could not go back to being Matt had pushed her into a depression and her mother had offered her the option to make her forget about having been Matthew Berkeley so she could carry on her life as Melissa.

Tearfully she had decided to take her up on this so that she didn’t have to live having been a person no one but her mother and Michelle, her personal assistant remembered. A tear fell from her eyes at how horrible her life had become.

“How is this going to work?” Melissa had asked as her mother drove them home from the grave-site of her father and brother. “I mean I remember you saying you wouldn’t be able to make me forget because I had magic,” she added.

“Yes your magic would have resisted the spell, I don’t know why but it probably had something to do with the way you were turned into a woman,” said Miranda.

To save her son from a deadly curse that would have killed him when he turned 30 because he was a male descendant of a Scottish banker who had crossed a witch 300 years ago, Miranda had kidnapped Melissa (then Matt) before transforming her into a woman with the help of her coven.

“You mean kidnapping and..,” said Melissa with a growl.

Miranda held up her hand to stop her indignation.

“Yes and I’m sorry but I wanted to save your life,” said Miranda.

She turned into her driveway and both women alighted from the car.

“How soon can we do this?” Melissa wondered.

“Tomorrow, day after that tops,” said Miranda, “I need to consult with some people on how to do this,” she added.

“Okay, I’d like to go to work tomorrow. Do I still have a job?”

“Yes, everyone thinks you’ve been ill. Mr Morrison is dying to have you back,” Miranda replied.

“What about Pirelli’s death, he was our biggest client,” said Melissa worriedly.

“They think it was cardiac arrest. His estate is still being sorted out but the executor and Mrs Pirelli think you should carry on with the funds,”

“Is she safe?” Melissa asked worriedly.

She didn’t want some grieving widow to come after her as had happened 300 years before to her ancestor leading to this curse.

“Our coven has some influence in the police, that room in Pirelli’s mansion was hidden from them and the corpse was left near his library. The hall leading to that room has no security footage so no one saw us arrive or leave,” Miranda responded.

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t want any more trouble from this curse. The last thing she needed was to be explaining what had happened to the authorities. The remainder of the journey was in silence as both of them had a lot of thinking to do.

When they arrived home Melissa went to the bathroom and ran herself a bath, it was something she’d rediscovered as quite pleasant since her transformation.

‘Might as well enjoy it, since this is the rest of my life,’ thought Melissa sadly.

Meanwhile Miranda sat in the lounge worrying about what she and her child had decided to do. She was going to cloud her daughter’s memories so that she wouldn’t have to remember being a man as it was clear she couldn’t live her life as a woman without pining away for what she’d lost.

It was going to be difficult and with a sigh she reached for one of her spell books to research how she was going to go about it.

Melissa was back at work the next day. Her absence was explained as personal leave time and Mr Morrison told her he hoped she was well enough to get back on the saddle. It turned out she was since Melissa used her job as a shield. It kept her from thinking too much about her life and the way it was going. It was an anchor and she immediately got stuck in on her return.
Her first task was to set about trying to buy some shares in GSD, a motor parts company that had grown in leaps and bounds in the last ten years. She was sure if it listed it would make a handsome return. Before her change she’d had her eye on the company and was about to invest in it.

So in the spirit of carrying on with her life by keeping herself busy so she didn’t have to face the fact that she was now stuck as a woman forever she made a bid for a stake in the business. She made an appointment with a shareholder she’d already talked to. The meeting with him and his wife went well. Two more shareholders sold their stakes to her that morning.

This is where things went pear shaped. Melissa wanted to buy a majority stake in the business and she wrote to the chairman informing him of her offer. A shareholders meeting was supposed to be called so that she could make her offer to the shareholders but the chairman of the company declined to call the meeting.

Melissa was curious as to why he wouldn’t let her pitch.

“Why not?”

“Well I’m sorry to say this but Perkins won’t sell to you because you’re a woman and you work for a hedge fund,” Herbert offered.

“What has that got to do with anything? I mean it’s a win-win,” said Melissa

Herb shrugged unable to provide a satisfactory answer.

“Get me an appointment with him,” she told Michelle.

“Yes ma’am.”

Surprisingly Perkins agreed to see her that afternoon over lunch. Melissa immediately felt uncomfortable on arriving for the meeting as he’d invited her to a gentleman’s club which didn’t accept women as members. They could be a guest of members but not members in their own right. Only well-heeled men could join and even then only by invitation and as Matt she might have had a chance but now that door was closed to her forever. It was another unfortunate reminder of what she’d lost. It wasn’t that Matt had wanted to join but that the choice had been taken from her just like her identity which just left her ungrounded.

The venue alone made her think Herb was correct in his assessment of the guy, what better of way of showing someone they weren’t wanted by inviting them to an exclusive club they couldn’t join. Melissa was quite irritated by the time she reached the table. Nothing seemed to be in her control anymore.

She was directed to her opponents table.

Mr Perkin’s was a rotund old man in his sixties. He stared at Melissa from head to toe with a look that bordered on a leer. Melissa noted the sharp eyes even as he leered at her and she realised this man wouldn’t be a walkover.

“Good afternoon Ms Berkeley,”

Good afternoon Mr Perkins,” said Melissa as the waiter seated her.

“A pleasure I’m sure. Shall we order?” Perkins responded before ordering for both of them leaving Melissa annoyed again.

'How dare he order for me,' she thought but she held her tongue, realising there were bigger battles on the horizon.

“May I have some water please,” she told the waiter.

“I believe you received our offer,” began Melissa.

“Yes, it’s a tidy sum too but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline,”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Melissa answered.

Perkin’s smiled, “Of course it is. Selling to you isn’t in the best interests of my shareholders,” he said.

“I’m sure they can decide for themselves,”

“They have by electing me Board Chairman. To be frank I don’t think you’re capable of running GSD. We’re in it for the long haul and you are a hedge fund, seeking a quick profit,” Perkin’s

“I’m not in this for the short term and frankly you can’t afford to ignore us,” Melissa countered.

“Oh I can and I will Ms Berkeley and I disagree that you’re in it for the long haul. You’re a young woman. You will probably leave to look after your babies leaving my company to the sharks you work with,” he remarked slowly, “I’d appreciate it if you’d sell us the shares you bought and we go our merry way.”

His words cut Melissa to the core as there was an element of truth in them, it was something Matt sometimes thought about women in the workplace once they married and had kids it was like their hearts weren’t in it. What rankled was that she could completely understand his view and this is what made it annoying.

She was so angry at everything and the world that had conspired to make put her in this situation. Perkins smirked when he realised he’d succeeded in getting under her skin.

‘That’s the problem with women, too emotional,’ he thought, ‘she should save it for the bedroom.’

Melissa to her surprise heard him thinking and if it wasn’t for her mother teaching to control her magic and the surprise she felt that she could read someone’s thoughts something bad might have happened to him. As it was the magic was dancing at her fingertips powered by her anger.

She stood up and plastered a phony smile on her face, “Well I see that this was a futile exercise,” she said, “have a good day Mr Perkin’s.”

As a parting gift she reached for her magic and loosened his bladder.

As promised Miranda located the spell that would enable her to make Melissa forget about being Matt. She called her child and told her it was done.

“I have the spell,” she informed daughter.

It was good news for Melissa who replied enthusiastically.

“Great, when can we do it?”

“Tomorrow if you’re ready,” said Miranda.

“Good, I just want this to be over,” murmured Melissa in a pained voice.

Miranda was slightly disappointed her child still wanted to do this. She’d rather Melissa learnt to live with her new body however she was in too much pain to do so. She’d unwittingly made her child a transsexual.

“I have to get six people to help me out,”

“Okay,”

The spell was performed the following evening at Melissa's apartment. That morning Melissa had woken up crying as she realized she was going to lose the memories of her life. She'd liked being Matt, he'd been a nice guy whose life had been sabotaged by magic. However she couldn't go through life missing her old life because she knew that ultimately it would destroy her. This was the only way she could have a fighting chance. She spent that day replaying a lifetimes worth of memories, each more poignant than the last. She remembered playing with her brother and her father, her first date and her first kiss amongst others and nearly lost herself in her emotions.

By the time she knocked off she'd made her peace with her decision.

Miranda was waiting at her apartment with six other women.

"We are ready,” she told her child.

“Okay, so am I,” said Melissa.

Her mother eyed her, worried about her; she didn’t need her powers to know her daughter was in pain.

The witches set about preparing for the spell. They formed a circle around her before they each lit a candle. Miranda picked up an old tome and began reciting from it. The other women followed suit. Slowly their chants rose in volume and Melissa felt her mind start to drift, a kaleidoscope of images flashed across her mind’s eye so quickly that she couldn’t see what they were.

The chants reached a crescendo and Melissa blacked out as a red light flared.

She awoke to a headache as well as cramps in her stomach.

Melissa sighed as these were signs of PMS. She touched her belly and cast the pain relief spell her mother had taught her at thirteen.

The cramps were gone in an instant but strangely the headache remained. The spell always alleviated her period pains. She wondered what was causing it before recalling she'd tossed and turned the whole night. However she couldn't for the life her remember what had disturbed her sleep.

She noted that she was alone in the apartment.

‘Odd,’ she thought, ‘was I expecting someone to be here?’

She got of bed and began her morning routine before leaving for work.

Somewhere in a place between this world and the next a being so old it had been mature when men had come down from the trees stirred. It looked at the planet we know as Earth and the east coast of North America. There was power there and it craved it. Its senses searched for whatever being harboured the power large enough to attract its attention and make it pay attention to our home for the first time in millennia.

“I’ve been reliably informed that GSD is opposing our bid,” Michelle announced.

Melissa nodded, “I expected that, they’re going to look for a white knight first so they can stall us. If they can’t they’ll load up on debt to disinterest us. Make a two tier offer at $25.60 for anyone selling in the next five days. I want another 10% before the weekend,” she instructed.

Melissa turned back to her computer and did some number crunching. Things weren't adding up, she couldn't see this tug of war ending as quickly as she hoped. She sighed in frustration before picking up her phone and calling a friend.

“Hi Anne,” she said.

“Hey Melissa,” chirped Anne, “how are you doing?”

“I’m okay, how’s work?”

“Meh, I wish I didn’t have to work,”

Melissa chuckled, “We all have days like that,” she remarked, "as a matter of fact I'm having one like that."

“Wow the superwoman too? It’s good to know you share some traits with the rest of us mere mortals,” Anne teased.

Melissa rolled her eyes, “Oh come on!"

"If the shoe fits own it girl,"

Melissa couldn't help giggling at her friend's quirkiness.

"You need help,"

Anne joined in the laughter.

"Let's have lunch hon," she suggested.

"Sure thing,"

The months went by and Melissa carried on with life. Perkins still refused to budge. Her battle with him for control of GSD took up a lot of her time while also taking a toll on her. She couldn’t afford to lose this, her first real battle to the sexist old man; it wouldn’t look good for her reputation and millions were at stake. He put up every defence possible including promising the unions a bigger pension plan and telling them that Melissa was a vulture capitalist who wanted to break up the business and sell it piecemeal and consequently take away their jobs.

Her mother’s spell was also unravelling slowly but surely. Melissa had no idea of her real life but she had started having weird dreams of her childhood but as a boy. It felt so real and she wondered why she was having such dreams as she’d never wanted to be a guy. However sometimes after showering she’d be looking at her naked body and an image of her having a male body would pass through her mind and she’s shiver for some reason.

She wanted to go her mother and tell her but something held her back. Whenever they met she’d find herself shielding those particular feelings from her mother. It wasn’t too hard but she didn’t like it.

She'd grown much closer to Anne. It helped that both their memories had them being best friends from their junior year at college.

They talked to each other about everything happening in their respective lives. It was a warm friendship between two young women which enriched both their lives. Anne made sure her friend had a healthy social life away from her high powered job. They shopped and occasionally partied together. It was at one of these jaunts that Anne had met the love of her life. His name was Chris Walters and he'd spotted Anne and had to talk to her. Melissa had been clubbing with Anne when a tall good looking man had come up to them and asked to dance with Anne.

As clichéd as it sounds Anne had fun dancing with Chris and the pair of them began dating much to Melissa's amusement. She approved of the guy though as she thought he looked good with her friend.

Her own love life was stalled though. Her busy schedule hardly left her time to date. Herb was still infatuated with her but being his boss kept him at bay it seemed. Melissa liked him but not the way he would have liked. So she kept things light and didn't lead him on.

With respect to her powers Melissa was now a very powerful witch. She had all the memories a daughter of Miranda would have had from learning to use magic at 13 and growing in power over the years. Unlike Matt Melissa embraced her heritage. She didn't think it had ruined her life and had no memories of fighting a demon months before. To her Bruno Pirelli had been a charming man who'd suffered a heart attack at Halloween while hosting a masquerade. Only her mother now knew the truth of the matter. Michelle and Herb also didn't recall that terrible night any more. The curse remained broken as Miranda's spell only worked in the mortal realm. A side effect of her defeat of the demon was that it left her with oodles of power. She was now a beacon to the many magical beings out there and many were now drawn to her. Somehow they couldn't identify who she was but were being drawn to the general area she was in but this would lead to problems for her and her friends.

Oddly enough Melissa didn't seem to notice that her powers were increasing. Her new memories should have found themselves at odds with the power levels she harboured but they didn't as she didn't notice they had changed. Other witches like Michelle couldn't sense her enhanced power either. Even though she hadn't been a mind reader Melissa simply ascribed the new ability to her growth as a witch. Because of the nature of the power which occasionally worked especially when she was angry she wasn't exactly comfortable telling her mother about it.

Meanwhile the relationship between Chris and Anne developed like a house on fire. Two months after they started dating Anne gave Melissa some news.

"I'm pregnant," an excited Anne said as soon as she sat down.

"Wow," said Melissa.

She searched her friends face to gauge her feelings. Anne looked nervous yet excited.

"Congratulations," Melissa went on, "I take it this was planned," she added.

Anne shook her head.

"It was an accident," she murmured.

"Does Chris know?"

"No. I'm terrified he'll freak out and leave me,"

Melissa picked up her friends hands and squeezed them.

"I get that but you have to tell him anyway. His response will show you what kind of a man he is," she advised her friend.

"I don't want him to think I'm trapping him,"

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled,"

Anne nodded, "I'm so scared," she murmured.

"That's natural you're carrying a life sweetie. You have the greatest job on earth but you can do it girl. You are an amazing woman who can only be a great mommy," Melissa reassured her.

"Whatever happens know that you can count on me."

"Thanks," murmured Anne before squeezing her friend’s hands.

Melissa suddenly had a premonition; Anne's baby had just been born.

"It's a beautiful baby girl!" A nurse announced.

She smiled at her friend and gave her a hug. It was a shock that as they hugged she saw Anne giving birth. The nurse now announced it was a boy. She then saw a teenage boy hanging from a garage and an older Anne bawling.

Anne gave her companion a worried look.

“Hey you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

To be continued